I looked at a Mini Driver and Unibrow side by side today. I'm not sure what measurements will say but the tail for both boards looked to the naked eye pretty much identical. The Unibrow carried a touch more volume through the centre at the same length (they were both 6'2"). The Unibrow looked like it had a touch more tail rocker. The Mini Driver may have had a touch more nose width but I was more focused on tail shape and rocker. The rails on the Mini Driver felt a touch sharper and carried about halfway up the board. Interestingly the shop concerned felt the Unibrow would be better for typical Sydney conditions.

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I looked at a Mini Driver and Unibrow side by side today. I'm not sure what measurements will say but the tail for both boards looked to the naked eye pretty much identical. The Unibrow carried a touch more volume through the centre at the same length (they were both 6'2"). The Unibrow looked like it had a touch more tail rocker. The Mini Driver may have had a touch more nose width but I was more focused on tail shape and rocker. The rails on the Mini Driver felt a touch sharper and carried about halfway up the board. Interestingly the shop concerned felt the Unibrow would be better for typical Sydney conditions.

You sure you dont have that around the wrong way buzzy? There is no way the MD has a wider tail than the UB. I agree the nose on the MD is also wider than the UB. Chris might be able to throw some numbers behind my claims but regardless, I have a MD and felt up a UB and it was the tail on the UB that stopped me pulling the trigger on one.

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They looked pretty much the same to me, but I didn't measure. It was the tail width I was interested in, possibly due to your earlier comments. I did say to the shop owner the tails looked pretty much identical (in planshape, not thickness) and he agreed. He may of course have been "just saying that" but truly, they looked pretty much indistinguishable to me in the tail in width and shape.

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They looked pretty much the same to me, but I didn't measure. It was the tail width I was interested in, possibly due to your earlier comments. I did say to the shop owner the tails looked pretty much identical (in planshape, not thickness) and he agreed. He may of course have been "just saying that" but truly, they looked pretty much indistinguishable to me in the tail in width and shape.

It was obvious there were some differences in the boards btw and the owner clearly thought the Mini Driver was a better good wave board - he just thought the Unibrow would be better for typical Sydney conditions.

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Hey Buzzy, I overlayed the boards in photoshop once when deciding which one to get and the tail on the MD was narrower. If I get time I'll do it again for you.
I can see how the shop guy would think the UB is better for typical Sydney waves though.
tough choices ahead for you buzzy - don't forget if you can't get a demo feel free to try mine.

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Wow they are similar. My favourite thing about the Mini Driver is the wider nose though. It's nice for paddling, but best of all is that extra bit of stability when popping up in a 5/4, boots, hood and gloves. It seems to counter the slow/heavy feeling of all that rubber.

I was undecided whether to take the MD or Potato in today. Waist to headhigh but the bigger ones were very spaced out. Figured I'd either be struggling on the small ones or strugging on the big ones. Took the MD in and had no problem making the most of the small ones but did miss the Potato. I'm addicted to that little thing.

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Nice work on the photoshop overlays there. It's funny how close they look on your graphic, 'cause when I first saw them in a shop, I though the differences appeared massive.
Still loving my MD. And it's starting to glow for the CC.

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I have been surfing a 5'10 UB for a few weeks and liked it on the first surf but haven't had a good surf on it since no matter what fins. I have tried it in small to head high surf with medium to small fins and find it really hard to bury the rail like I can on the CC or the MD. I think it is because of the deep single into the deep double and quite a wide round tail. I have since surfed a 6'0 mini driver in similar and larger conditions and for me it performed way better than the UB. I don't think there is anything wrong with the UB, I think it just did not suite the way I surf. I have had great fun on a 5'11 CC and in punchier to bigger surf the 6'0 Mini Drive has just been working for me so well.

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Been surfing for a long time (25+ years) and have honed in on the volume I like pretty well. 2.5 liters is the difference between a board that doesn't paddle well and one that's too corky to properly sink the rail, for me at least. With shapers putting volume numbers on the last few years I've been able to quantify what used to be a lot more hit and miss and resulted in a lot of boards bought and sold with wrong volume.

If you pick up the 5'8 and the 5'10 MD's you can feel that volume pretty clearly. It's odd as the the poly versions at stock dimensions carries a lot more volume. If you look at a 5'8 poly MD they are more like 26.8 or so and the 5'10s are like 28 plus. The stock 5'9 is actually more like the Firewire 5'10 volume wise. The 5'10 would probably work for me during the winter in a 5/4 boots/gloves/hood but might be a little corky during bigger hurricane season swells when I'm in just trunks or a short sleeve full.

Wow they are similar. My favourite thing about the Mini Driver is the wider nose though. It's nice for paddling, but best of all is that extra bit of stability when popping up in a 5/4, boots, hood and gloves. It seems to counter the slow/heavy feeling of all that rubber.

I was undecided whether to take the MD or Potato in today. Waist to headhigh but the bigger ones were very spaced out. Figured I'd either be struggling on the small ones or strugging on the big ones. Took the MD in and had no problem making the most of the small ones but did miss the Potato. I'm addicted to that little thing.

First hard choice is what to buy, then its what to surf.

The potato is so excellent though, iv caught some unbelivably fun head high semi-powerful waves on it when I should be using something more performance oreintated, But the speed its picked up on take off has been so fun and its so skatey its just such a fun board! (unfortunatley it doesnt always go like this in the bigger stuff). A magic stick for sure